Do you ever get stuck thinking about stupid coincidences that happen in your life that are completely insignificant and mean nothing, but are just kind of weird? And then it starts you thinking about why it happened and whether is was a sign about something you need to do? No? Okay, maybe I am just losing it.
Take tonight for example. I went out to my car with Luca to make a run to KFC to pick up dinner. We have new next door neighbors and they had a car idling in front of our house. The passenger seat and the back were packed with people and they were waiting on the driver. The house is rented to a bunch of college students so it is usually quite busy with cars coming and going throughout the day and night. So we head down to KFC and we order our food and walk out to the car and the same car is idling in the parking space next to us…still missing the driver, who had gone in to get their food. It kind of freaked me out for a second, like I was dreaming or something because the people in the car were all in the same position and had the same expressions on their faces that they had in front of my house. It was kind of Twilight Zonish. It isn’t a small town and there were plenty of other places to pick up food, AND I haven’t even been to KFC in probably five years and the time I happened to go my neighbors did too. See…I told you it was insignificant and meant nothing, but it was still strange.
I would have taken the opportunity to ask them to please park in their driveway and not right in front of our house, but they don’t speak much English and Brett had a hard time getting them to understand when asked them to stop parking with one of their tires up on our lawn. They seem like really nice people, but I didn’t want to get caught in that awkward cycle of “smile, nod, little wave”. Then they do it back but add a little bow, so you feel like you need to start over again and add a bow at the end of yours. Then they do it again and add the the little noise you made in the back of your throat that somewhat resembled a “hey” that you added after the bow and then you have to do it all again. It is like that game “add on” that I used to play on the trampoline where you do a trick and then next person does a trick and adds their own…then the next does those two and adds another. You know what I’m talking about. So I just pretended like I didn’t see them and now I feel like a bad neighbor.
I would take them a treat to welcome them to the neighborhood, but because they don’t speak English I can’t ask them if they have any allergies and I have a son with food allergies so I don’t feel comfortable with that. I can just see it now. I take over some cookies and fifteen minutes later an ambulance pulls up and races away with a swollen pink neighbor. Then they would probably start parking on our grass again and Brett would have to go back over do the whole awkward cycle and we would be right back where we started.
Maybe I will just leave a welcome note with a plant on their doorstep sometime when they aren’t home.
Whims 